By 1650 Franciscan friars (members of the Roman Catholic religious order of Saint Francis of Assisi) had established a chain of 38 missions serving 26,000 converts among numerous Native American tribes in La Florida. During this time Franciscans had also moved into New Mexico, founding 20 missions that served 750 Pueblo converts. In both regions the friars tightly regulated mission life, requiring the Native Americans to reject their own beliefs and accept Roman Catholicism. They also introduced native peoples to Spanish handicrafts and farming methods.
The Franciscans' efforts in La Florida ended in failure because tribes either resisted expansion of the missions or formed alliances with English settlers and raided them. At the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, the Spanish surrendered La Florida to the English. The Spanish government evacuated thirty-one hundred settlers, friars, and Native American converts to Cuba and New Spain (Mexico). The Franciscans in New Mexico initially had better luck with the Pueblo, who willingly integrated Catholicism into their own religious traditions. Nevertheless the Pueblo finally rebelled and drove the Spaniards back into Mexico in 1680 (see "Pueblo turn against Spanish" in Chapter 2). The Franciscans returned to New Mexico twelve years later, and this time they allowed the Pueblo to follow their own traditions.
This is a free page. This page contains 195 words. This
article contains 8,800 words (approx. 29 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Article with our Education Access Pass.
